11. 11. 09. - 11:00
Finance Minister against third stimulus package
By Lisa Chapman
ÖVP Finance Minister Josef Pröll has said he will not back a third stimulus package in Austria.
The
People’s Party (ÖVP) minister said today (Tues): "There is no reason
for us to increase our debt. We should not thereby deny ourselves
future manoeuvring room."
The minister declined to speculate
about what the European Commission (EC) would recommend tomorrow on the
issue of how to reduce budget deficits and state debt.
The EC
recently raised its forecast of Austrian economic growth next year but
said Austria’s budget deficit and state debt had substantially risen
and would rise even more.
Pröll recently mentioned the year 2013
as the possible start date for a national strategy to lower the budget
deficit and state debt.
Institute for Economic Research (Wifo)
chief Karl Aiginger has said state assistance had helped diminish the
recession’s impact but that it should not be stopped too soon.
"One
lesson of the worldwide economic crisis is that state assistance –
monetary and fiscal policy and support for banks – should not be ended
too early," he said.
